Regional Planning Board
After almost a decade of CTAQC's advocacy to streamline and coordinate land use and transportation planning in this region, new members of the Regional Planning Board took their seats for the first time in October. House Bill 3121, which was adopted unanimously in both the Illinois House and Senate, set the stage for this potentially profound transformation of planning in our region. The governor signed the bill in August and most of the appointments were made by the middle of October.
While primary credit for resolving this long-standing barrier to effective planning goes to legislative sponsors, many people here in the region worked to make this a collaborative success. We want to publicly thank a few of those people here: Rita Athas (City of Chicago) and Mayor Jeff Schielke (Batavia) for highly developed skills at building consensus; Tim Martin (IDOT Secretary) for his commitment to an independent regional process; Dave Bennett (Metropolitan Mayors' Caucus) and Tom Cuculich (DuPage County) for excellent staffing support; and Chicago Metropolis 2020 for leadership from the private sector.
The first two Regional Planning Board meetings focused largely on organizational imperatives (officers, committees, bylaws) but demonstrate a high degree of commitment on the part of the members and areal willingness to delve into their tasks. We are expecting the best, but recognizing that public scrutiny and a little occasional nudging by the public can only help to improve the process and the ultimate product.
The RPB has two tracks on which it will operate. One is to coordinate regional effort and priorities now. The second is to prepare reports for the Illinois General Assembly on the structure, function and financing of a permanent body. The General Assembly created the RPB to allow a three-year transition period, with the region having the opportunity to define the final form of its comprehensive planning and policy agency.
NIPC offered to host a new RPB website to keep the public informed of their deliberations.
| Regional Planning Board Members: Geographic Base, Background and Role on the RPB |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing | Name | Background | Additional Information | |
| Cook County Appointments | County Board | Calvin Jordan | Rich Township | |
| South | Zenovia Evans | Mayor, Riverdale | ||
| Southwest | Gerald Bennett | Mayor, Palos Hills | President | |
| West | Tony Calderone | Mayor, Forest Park | ||
| North/Northwest | Al Larson | Mayor, Schaumburg | At-Large Exec Comm Member | |
| Collar County Appointments | DuPage | Rae Ruppsrch | ||
| Kane/Kendall | ||||
| Lake | Elliott Hartstein | Mayor, Buffalo Grove | At-Large Exec Comm Member | |
| McHenry | Dan Shea | McHenry County Board | ||
| Will | Mike Smith | Mayor, New Lenox | Vice President | |
| City of Chicago Appointments | Rita Athas | Deputy Chieft of Staff, Office of the Mayor | Vice President | |
| Frank Beal | Chicago Metropolis 2020 | |||
| Raul Raymundo | Executive Director, Resurrection Project | |||
| Andre Rice | President, Muller and Monroe Asset Management | |||
| Nigel Telman | Partner, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood | At-Large Exec Comm Member | ||
| CATS | Steve Schlickman | Executive Director, RTA | Non-Voting | |
| NIPC | Ed Paesel | Executive Director, SSMMA | Non-Voting | |
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Previous Articles
2005 may be a year we look back on as pivotal in regional planning. The greatest potential for a changed regional planning environment lies in HB3121, which merges the functions of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) and the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) under one Regional Policy Board (RPB) and one executive director. The bill unanimously passed the Illinois House and Senate and is being reviewed by the governor. (Click http://www.ilga.gov and enter the bill number).
Back to topThe Future of the Region?
A struggle to shape new regional boundaries is unfolding beyond the traditional six counties. Kendall County has flirted with joining NIPC for decades, but always withdrew before proposing an amendment to NIPC's enabling legislation. A major impediment was the need to fund extensive data acquisition and pay for other NIPC services.
Kendall County has also flirted with RTA services, ultimately "purchasing" specific Pace extensions and planning for future Metra extensions. But they have not proposed joining the RTA region or paying the RTA sales tax.
Kendall County did propose joining the CATS region, and the CATS Policy Committee officially approved their request on June 9th. There is no requirement for legislative approval and no cost to Kendall County in taxes or service fees. According to CTAQC's analysis of transportation allocations to Kendall County in the region's current five-year plan (the TIP or Transportation Improvement Program), Kendall is already receiving a per capita allocation of $1,061 while the existing six counties' per capita allocation is $860.
The two-thirds of the region's residents living in Cook County have two votes in CATS. With the addition of Kendall County, the collar counties will now have six votes, but only one-third of the population. The intention of HB3121 is to create a proportionally representative Regional Policy Board, but implementation will determine to what extent a proportional board can counter-balance the inequality of CATS.
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